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NYU Entrepreneurs Challenge

Aspiring entrepreneurs with innovative start-up ideas gathered Monday evening at New York University’s Stern School of Business, for a 2012-2013 Entrepreneurs Challenge event, the Teammate Hunt, in order to find teammates with skill sets that would complement their own.

Participants had 90 seconds to pitch their venture ideas to a group of potential, future teammates. Each participant took the floor to share their proposals, which ranged from a filter to prevent iron overload during blood transfusions, to a phone ‘app’ that could call you during a bad blind date.

Mark Chu, a sophomore at NYU’s Stern School of Business, was hoping to find a teammate that could creatively design his idea for a new website that allows people to help one another, in terms of non-monetary favors.

“I’m looking for somebody who knows the coding end, and I’ll try to handle the business side,” said Chu.

Like Chu, many other entrepreneurs were searching for the ideal teammate. Alan Perlstein, a graduate student at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly), was looking for someone to work with on his idea for a new piece of technology, which prevents too much iron from entering the bloodstream during blood transplants.

“I have a basic business plan sketched out, but I need help with some of the aspects of getting the proper materials, as well as some key points on my business plan to be sketched out more appropriately,” said Perlstein.

In order to implement her idea for a high-end, clothes-sharing platform, Sarah Smith, a first-year graduate student at the Stern School of Business, was seeking a teammate with a forte in finance.

“I come from a creative background and I feel like marketing and branding are my strengths, so I’m really looking for someone who has a financial background and who can handle more of the financial aspect of the business,” said Smith.

As the event came to a close, most participants eagerly mixed and mingled in the hope of meeting others interested in joining their teams. However, some attendees did not feel that potential teammates were among the crowd.

“I think there needed to be a wider breadth of people. Most of the people that came here were people presenting ideas, not presenting talents, which is what the presenters need,” said Zach Kaplan, an undergraduate student at NYU.

However, Marc Brodeur, a 2007 graduate, hoping to find a teammate to join him in his own business endeavor (a vitamin to be taken while consuming alcohol, in order to stay hydrated and prevent a bad hangover), found the energy of the night’s networking session inspiring.

“It is always really exciting to kind of see what other people are interested in. There were quite a variety of people from different backgrounds. It is a great thing to be a part of,” said Brodeur.

New York University’s Entrepreneurs Challenge is a competition for those interested in taking their start-up ideas to the next level. Groups can enter into three different categories: the New Venture Competition, Social Venture Competition and Technology Venture Competition, all with a chance to win prize money to turn their idea into reality.